Nearly gave up on Backlinks, but now finally did it!

[Jason H]

I just noticed this today...

I looked up the Google toolbar, and at first could barely see it because the toolbar had a new redesign, and before eyes, I FINALLY GOT A PAGE RANK 1! :')

I know it's not so a big deal to those folks who say so what, I have a PR10, but there were times I thought maybe people paid Google at headquarter just to give them a number on the PR

It has taken me almost 3 years to finally get this page rank. I only started building backlinks last year, and it was aggravating. I was focusing so much on design and content-building that I neglected link building.

The most depressing part was that I would painstakingly submit to all these directories. At first my links gone up, but then it went back down. This cycle kept happening I submit links and it would go up, then fall back down to where it started. It became more depressing when I started submitting a ton of articles, and haven't seen a single backlink increase.

I nearly gave up because what was the point of wasting time building backlinks when a) I would build them then they drop dramatically to where it started b) my backlinks weren't increasing at all with article submission.

....BUT at last finally got that freaking 1 and a number, so I'm pretty satisfied.

NOW the bizarre thing is...

I ONLY HAVE 374 LINKS (my peak back then was around 900 but dropped).

That's weird, from all the talk I've heard, people say you need at least 1000 to get a PR1.

This doesn't make sense to me, but who cares, rules don't always apply.

[jasonmorgan]

That's weird, from all the talk I've heard, people say you need at least 1000 to get a PR1.

Don't listen to those people.

And good job.

[Jason H]

I know that's what makes this whole SEO and site ranking thing more confusing.

[VilPietersen@]

Ye good Effort Jason, thanks for sharing

[Jason H]

I'm actually starting to think it has more to do with the age of the site than having to to do with links at at all, or maybe a combination.

I have seen sites, where it wasn't even activated, looked like it haven't been updated in a long time, only had 20 links, but have been around for 5 years and had a PR3.

[Andrew_Cheyne]

Great job man, that is a step in the right direction... I know the google pagerank thing always confuses me... i went to check out how the determine it and it is a super complicated way of doing it...

[Bill_Z]

The biggest factor in getting PR to your site is getting high PR links to it. So somewhere along your link building you probably got a couple PR2 or one PR3 site to link to you. From my experience that is enough to get your site up to PR1.

[Paleochora]

It became more depressing when I started submitting a ton of articles, and haven't seen a single backlink increase.

Always think of posting articles as a syndication opportunity and an opportunity for further syndication. The backlink is a bonus.

If Google go ahead and slam content farms, then article directory backlinks will not be so attractive anyway.

[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Jason H

I'm actually starting to think it has more to do with the age of the site than having to to do with links at at all, or maybe a combination.

I have seen sites, where it wasn't even activated, looked like it haven't been updated in a long time, only had 20 links, but have been around for 5 years and had a PR3.

None of that is true, stop focusing on PR (it is a useless ballgame that will distract you from the real point of link building..i.e. achieving high SERP rankings).

What do you need PR for tho, your ego? It's a long time gone to build ego on PR, nowadays you can trick PR however you want. Want a PR3 in next update? Get a link from a PR5 site (how? pay for it! do the website owner a favor and ask for a link back instead of money, write for him for free and ask a link back as favor..whatever, <sarcasm>clean his shoes once a week if needed doesn't matter</sarcasm>) with low outbound links and there you are.

If you stress about link building, then stress about seeing your site in the first page of the search engines for your desired keywords (that will bring traffic to your site) but don't stress even a second about PR (actually, remove even the PR toolbar, it is slowing down your browser and pc).

Just my advise, take it as you want..

[jasonmorgan]

I have seen sites, where it wasn't even activated, looked like it haven't been updated in a long time, only had 20 links, but have been around for 5 years and had a PR3.

It's a lot of things. Number of links, the page rank of the pages linking to yours etc... Like all SEO junk, there isn't a single factor that is going to guarantee results.

[markowe]

This really belongs in the SEO forum, but that aside WHY does this MATTER?! I personally couldn't give a flying fig what my site PR is, and I certainly ain't spending all my time backlinking to get it! The only thing that matters in regard to SEO is your front page ranking for your 'money' keyword, in which equation PR plays only a minor part. I have a Squidoo lens that is PR3, and you know how much I earn from it? Diddly-Squidoo!

[dblacker]

Congrats! Just a few things to consider:

1) Pagerank doesn't = traffic
I have several sites with zero pagerank that get hundreds of visitors per day

2) Inbound Link Count (you mentioned it dropped)
These numbers change from time to time. I have heard this is to keep people from reverse engineering the algorithim.

It does feel good to see something for your hard work, but focus on traffic and don't sweat pagerank too much.

[dave147]

It's domain age and relevant backlinks!

[KatyaSenina]

Hey Jason, can you please explain your backlinking process in more depth, if you don't mind? Obviously there is so much incorrect or incomplete information out there. How did you go about linkbuilding and what do you think is the best way to build links or to get them from?

It's the part I dread the most, yet on the other hand it's vital and something you must not skip, do you use software or do you do it manually?

[The Copy Nazi]

Originally Posted by KatyaSenina

Hey Jason, can you please explain your backlinking process in more depth, if you don't mind? Obviously there is so much incorrect or incomplete information out there. How did you go about linkbuilding and what do you think is the best way to build links or to get them from?

It's the part I dread the most, yet on the other hand it's vital and something you must not skip, do you use software or do you do it manually?

Check out "The Ultimate Backlinks Report" WSO - he shows you how to do it.

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...g-reviews.html

[dohfiddle]

I have a website with 373 links and is pr 3 make sure your backlinks are relevant to your site and your content is original

[Jason H]

Originally Posted by KatyaSenina

Hey Jason, can you please explain your backlinking process in more depth, if you don't mind? Obviously there is so much incorrect or incomplete information out there. How did you go about linkbuilding and what do you think is the best way to build links or to get them from?

It's the part I dread the most, yet on the other hand it's vital and something you must not skip, do you use software or do you do it manually?

Katya, there is no best way I can say...

Honestly, it just happened.

I was getting 400 visitors a day to my sites, but my PR was always nada.

I started out with blog commenting. What I did was went to my competitors' sites and looked up all the blogs linking them, and find the ones with the highest PR that allow commenting, and just contribute valuable feedback/discussion per say.

I started out with that and I notice the most dramatic backlinks increase almost overnight. It was continuously going up, but unfortunately, a week later, it continuously went down almost to the quantity which I started, and that was the depressing part.

I would build more buildlinks by commenting on blogs; it would go up, then it would go down cycle again. It was like I was on a treadmill running, but not going anyway.

Then I turned site directory, and submitted for weeks on over a hundred different directories manually by hand. Let me tell you, that was boring thing ever.

The backlinks went up then it went down again.

Finally I said to myself, it was pointless, so I just focused on creating content and let it sit for awhile...

then all of a sudden this brand new year, I finally got a PR.

I know PR shouldn't be important and matter, but it is a value-indicator for JVs and affiliates wanting to do business with you.

I would say don't get so obsessively caught up with it as I was, let it happen naturally by creating contents and driving traffic, and let having the backlinks act as secondary bonuses.

[Jason H]

Originally Posted by dohfiddle

I have a website with 373 links and is pr 3 make sure your backlinks are relevant to your site and your content is original

Yes, and the age is almost 5 years old.

[KatyaSenina]

Thanks Jason for your reply.

I've heard of blogcommenting and site directories before and some other backlinking methods as well. I agree, it's a very tedious, stressful task to do all that manually.

But after all, I think they actually DO add up in time as you've seen with the increase of your PR.

Originally Posted by Jason H

Katya, there is no best way I can say...

Honestly, it just happened.

I was getting 400 visitors a day to my sites, but my PR was always nada.

I started out with blog commenting. What I did was went to my competitors' sites and looked up all the blogs linking them, and find the ones with the highest PR that allow commenting, and just contribute valuable feedback/discussion per say.

I started out with that and I notice the most dramatic backlinks increase almost overnight. It was continuously going up, but unfortunately, a week later, it continuously went down almost to the quantity which I started, and that was the depressing part.

I would build more buildlinks by commenting on blogs; it would go up, then it would go down cycle again. It was like I was on a treadmill running, but not going anyway.

Then I turned site directory, and submitted for weeks on over a hundred different directories manually by hand. Let me tell you, that was boring thing ever.

The backlinks went up then it went down again.

Finally I said to myself, it was pointless, so I just focused on creating content and let it sit for awhile...

then all of a sudden this brand new year, I finally got a PR.

I know PR shouldn't be important and matter, but it is a value-indicator for JVs and affiliates wanting to do business with you.

I would say don't get so obsessively caught up with it as I was, let it happen naturally by creating contents and driving traffic, and let having the backlinks act as secondary bonuses.